Reviews tagging 'Stalking'

Natural Beauty by Ling Ling Huang

8 reviews

jennifercheck's review

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Body horror, Pregnancy, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Car accident, Stalking, Animal cruelty, Pedophilia, Racism, Death of parent, and Dementia

Minor: Cannibalism

spicyspookypotato's review

challenging dark reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Fatphobia, Body shaming, Drug use, Cannibalism, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Body horror, Kidnapping, Sexual content, Medical trauma, Dementia, Death of parent, Death, Car accident, Animal cruelty, Violence, Toxic relationship, Dysphoria, Sexual violence, Classism, Stalking, and Fire/Fire injury

livlamentloathe's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Listened to most of this yesterday then finished while coloring moths in a meditation coloring book I own. It felt ironic to read the ending while choosing colors to create art.

This was a grotesque dissection of beauty, marginalization, and the dangers of the male gaze. It was more than that too, I can’t exactly summarize this book into a sentence. The ending felt akin to Carrie Narby’s “Indescribable,” in It Came From the Closet. The nonexistence of beauty, of perception, grants a form of freedom. There is a queerness to ugliness.

Natural Beauty captured the dangers of beauty well. It spoke to the “feminism” of beauty and the cage that surrounds conformity. Reading this was an experience I can’t truly describe in words. But I enjoyed this a great deal. Another example of how the greatest horror stems from reality.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Animal cruelty, Death, Dysphoria, Excrement, Fatphobia, Grief, Medical content, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, Animal death, Body horror, Classism, Confinement, Gore, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Xenophobia, Terminal illness, and Stalking

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Sexual assault, Vomit, Terminal illness, and Sexual violence

Minor: Animal death, Cannibalism, Murder, Vomit, and Excrement

chris_reads's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

The most insidiously disturbing book I've read to date. Good writing and themes of class, consumerism, immigration, sexual exploitation and beauty standards for women. Characters were sympathetic but passive and not very likeable. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Medical trauma, Rape, Body horror, Classism, Stalking, and Bullying

Moderate: Sexism, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Medical content, Dysphoria, Toxic friendship, Drug use, and Eating disorder

Minor: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Car accident, Murder, Racism, and Vomit

kelsielovesbooks's review

dark reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

3.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Stalking, Racism, Medical trauma, Death, Sexual violence, Sexual content, and Body horror

mondovertigo's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Stalking, Body horror, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Misogyny

mermaidsherbet's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gore, Violence, Gaslighting, Rape, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual assault

Minor: Infertility, Murder, Pregnancy, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Animal death, Bullying, Cannibalism, Car accident, Toxic friendship, Xenophobia, Classism, Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Blood, Body shaming, Cultural appropriation, Death, Death of parent, Sexual content, Stalking, Drug use, Grief, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

rhiannonafternoon's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

I could not find the words to describe the turns this book takes to create its unfathomable horror. This had me doing double takes and freezes to contemplate the words just said. 

Check those content warnings, fam. This is a wild one. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror

Moderate: Pregnancy and Medical trauma

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Racism, Stalking, and Trafficking